Means for finishing buttonholes



No. 626,888. Patented :une I3, |899. c. A. DAHL 8 H. l. ILLINGwoTH.

MEANS FUR FINISHING BUTTUNHLES.

.-lApplication led Feb 21, 1898.)

(No Model.)

Wl-r 5:5555: Fi fl l @Jag-rn @MW- c-M H @Q4/82M@ 48u-2% UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES A. DAHL AND HARRY I. ILLINGWORTH, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

MEANS FOR FlNl-SHlNG BUTTONHLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 626,888, dated June 13., 1899.

Application filed February 21, 1898. Serial No. 671,019. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, CHARLES A. DAHL and HARRY I. ILLINGWORTH, citizens of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Means for Finishing Buttonholes,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part'of this specification, in explaining its natu-re.

lThe invention relates to means for finishing buttonholes, especially applicable to the buttonhole-pieces of boots and shoes, which consists in applying to the inner surface of the buttonhole-piece in line with the extreme inner ends ofthe buttonholes worked therein a covering piece or strip of flexible material which is applied to the piece in'a manner to cover the threads which connect the inner ends of the buttonholes upon the inner or nnder side of the piece, and which strip or piece is united by adhesive material to the inner surface of the buttonhole-piece and to the threads. The said strip also acts when thus applied as a bar in reinforcing or strengthening the inner ends of the buttonholes and to prevent the tearing or opening ofthe buttonhole-piece at the inner ends of the buttonholes.

Fgure l represents in plan a buttonholepiece and a finishing-strip partially applied to it and also the end of another louttonhole-A suitable thin flexible material, such as cloth or paper, and of a width to completely cover the connecting-threads d and is prepared for use by being coated upon one surface with an adhesive substance which may be previously applied to the strip, in which case an adhesive substance is used which is non-adhesive at ordinary temperature and which is made adhesive in the act of applying to the buttonhole-piece by moistening or by heat or by pressure or by a combination of these instrumentalities. The strip is of any desired length, and when previously coated with the adhesive substance is wound upon a spool C with its coated surface outward, although this is immaterial, as it may be Wound either way-that is, with the adhesive coating upon the inner side, if desired. It may be of any desired length, preferably of a very considerable length in order that it may be continuously fed to a number of buttonhole-pieces in succession, as represented in Fig. l.

In Fig. 3 of the drawings the strip is represented as applied to the buttonhole-piece B by means of the rolls D D', the lower roll D acting as a support or bed roll for the buttonholepiece, the upper roll D acting as a pressureroll, being forced toward the roll D by al spring d, and thereby pressing upon the threads and buttonhole-piece the finishing-strip B, which is fed, with the buttonhole-piece, between the two rol-ls.

The adhesive substance when previously applied to the strip may be made sufficiently adhesive to unite the strip to the buttonholepiece and to the threads a' by pressure alone or by pressure and heat or by pressure and moisture, and the roll D' may be used in either way-that is, it may be simply a pressure-roll or a heated pressure-roll-and in Fig. 3 we have represented it as a heated pressure-roll, the roll being hollow and adapted to be lled with a heating medium and the strip B being led around it for a distance sufficient to permit the heating of the adhesive substance before the strip is applied to the finishing-piece, the strip being fed to the roll at el with its coated surface outermost and being held to the roll at or near the point IOO by a roll, sponge, brush, or any other device While it is being applied to the buttonholepiece and in advance of the point where it is forced into contact with the buttonhole-piece. In use in connect-ion with buttonhole-pieces f we prefer to run the buttonhole-pieces continuously, or practically so, through the strip-apl plying devices, the strip running from one buttonhole-piece immediately upon another,

. We claim and desire -to secure byLetters Patas represented in Fig. 1.

By means of a prepared inishing-strip of this character not only are the connectingi threads covered and attached to the inner' surface of the buttonhole-piece by a covering which is very solidly and firmly united to the buttonhole-piece and the inner ends of the Y ing and protecting said threads, as set forth.

buttonholes also reinforced or strengthened by a bar, especially when the strip is made of cloth or material of some strength; but

means are provided whereby great speed of application is attained and the button-pieces I along the inner ends of said buttonholes and very rapidly finished.

When the finishing-strip is also used as a reinforce, it is desirable that it be formed from woven` fibrous material in which theg threads run continuously the length of the.,` strip. n In the application of the strip to the buttonhole-piece the adhesive material, being adhesive between the two rolls D D', unites the strip to the buttonhole-piece upon each side g ofthe threads and to the threads at that;`

either side of the finishing-strip during its application to the buttonhole-piece, thereby insuring a neat desirable finish:

Having thus fully described our invention,

necting-threads joining their inner ends andy a iiexible connecting-strip running the length of said piece and united thereto and cover- 2. A sewed buttonhole-piece having buttonholes and threads connecting their inner ends land a `iexible strip of the kind described, covering said threads and located adjacent thereto whereby any tendency to stretch said buttonholes out of shape will be withstood Vby said strip, as and for the purposes set forth.

CHARLES A. DAHL. HARRY I. ILLINGVORTH.

NV i tn esses:

ISRAEL A. NEWHALL, CHARLES R. HIGGINS. 

